{"id":167926,"date":"2026-02-07T08:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T08:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167926\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T08:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T08:16:13","slug":"gloria-expands-free-balboa-park-lots-amid-paid-parking-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167926\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloria expands free Balboa Park lots amid paid parking backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a>Parking in the Palisades lot in Balboa Park will now be free for city residents. (Photo by Thomas Murphy\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

This post has been updated.<\/p>\n

Widespread backlash to paid parking in Balboa Park has finally pushed Mayor Todd Gloria to back down from his steadfast support for the unpopular policy<\/a> by expanding the park\u2019s free parking lots for city residents. <\/p>\n

Gloria\u2019s reversal also spelled the end of a council-supported effort to suspend paid parking in the park indefinitely.<\/p>\n

The mayor announced Friday that starting March 2, six additional lots in the park would now boast free parking \u2014 but only for verified city residents<\/a>. He also trimmed two hours from when paid parking is enforced in the park, allowing people to park for free after 6pm, instead of 8pm.<\/p>\n

City residents will still need to pay for the park\u2019s most desirable lots, at $5 for up to four hours and $8 for a dull day. Non-residents will still need to pay in most of the park.<\/p>\n

Gloria\u2019s announcement came three days before the City Council was set to consider suspending the park\u2019s paid parking program indefinitely<\/a>, after a tumultuous rollout that included protests, vandalism of parking meters and widespread confusionover the deeply unpopular policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s vote will no longer happen, Council President Joe LaCava announced in a Friday statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognize\u00a0that with today\u2019s announcements\u00a0this conversation may not yet be over,\u201d LaCava said. \u201cMy colleagues and I recognize the impacts paid parking has had on residents, Balboa Park institutions, and the many clubs. The\u00a0Mayor\u2019s\u00a0reforms\u00a0address\u00a0these impacts\u00a0and\u00a0align\u00a0with our calls for action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Sean-Elo Rivera, who led the suspension proposal with LaCava, also supported Gloria\u2019s changes. The Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, a group representing park institutions, likewise celebrated the mayor\u2019s shift. <\/p>\n

Councilmember Kent Lee, who was also part of the push, said he is still not satisfied with Gloria\u2019s reforms.<\/p>\n

The six new lots that will now be free for residents include: Marston Point, in the southwest corner of the park, near Bankers Hill; Upper Inspiration Point, at the corner of Park Blvd. and Presidents Way; the Federal lot, behind Starlight Bowl and the Comic-Con Museum; the Palisades lot in front of the Comic-Con Museum; the Pepper Grove lot on Park Blvd., next to the playground and near the Fleet Science Center; and the Bea Evanson lot, adjacent to the Bea Evanson Fountain, next to the San Diego Natural History Museum.<\/p>\n

Until Friday, Gloria had remained defiant in the face of resident anger and abandoned support from other elected officials. Two councilmembers in early January urged him to delay the start of the program, anticipating its launch problems<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He rejected that appeal, and continued to insist the city needed the revenue generated by paid parking as councilmembers brought forward a measure to indefinitely pause the program.<\/p>\n

But the council appeared to build a veto-proof majority to overcome his opposition. Now, he\u2019s maintained some paid parking in the park \u2014 including in most of the park\u2019s lots for non-city residents \u2014 by expanding the availability of free parking for residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood governing also means listening,\u201d Gloria said.\u00a0\u201cThis change will reduce revenue, and I have received a commitment from\u00a0the City Council President as\u00a0well as other\u00a0councilmembers to identify other service-level reductions\u00a0in order to keep the budget\u00a0balanced.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city was already facing a $17 million hole in this year\u2019s budget, in large part thanks to delaying paid parking in Balboa Park from when it was supposed to go into effect this summer.<\/p>\n

Lee said in a statement Friday that Gloria\u2019s announcement did not accomplish his goal to suspend paid parking for residents in the entire park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate that Mayor Gloria is now taking steps to respond to the outpouring of frustration and concern that San Diegans have expressed for months regarding the implementation of Balboa Park parking,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Lee said the changes don\u2019t do enough to address the community\u2019s concerns, and deprive the public of an opportunity for a full debate on parking in Balboa Park, a vote to provide free parking for residents throughout the park and a discussion on how the city should address its budget situation.<\/p>\n

This post has been updated to include a statement and response from Councilmember Kent Lee.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT\n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parking in the Palisades lot in Balboa Park will now be free for city residents. (Photo by Thomas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4549,63932,2076,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-167926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-balboa-park","tag-balboa-park-parking-fees","tag-budget","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}